Dragons determined to keep Faletau

Dragons chief Chris Brown is working on keeping Lions number eight Toby Faletau at the region beyond the end of next season.

Dragons chief executive Chris Brown is working on keeping hold of British and Irish Lions number eight Toby Faletau beyond the end of 2013/14.

The 22-year-old Welsh forward, who shone for the Lions in Australia, is set to have clubs circling in the coming months due to his deal expiration.

Brown is eager for Faletau not to follow Dan Lydiate and Luke Charteris out of the door, sighting more than one reason for keeping him.

"Toby's importance to us is two-fold - what he can do on the pitch and the profile that he brings us," Brown told the South Wales Argus.

"When he gets back and has had a well-deserved rest I will be having a chat with Toby. "Will he stay? I don't know, but I am hopeful and we will be giving him a proper offer.

"Whether he does stay could be down to what is out there but we will give him a really good option.

"Toby was brilliant on Saturday and made everyone here so proud and we will do everything we can to keep him at the Dragons."

It is not just at the Dragons where the exodus may continue and Ospreys hooker Richard Hibbard has urged for change to stop players such as Charteris, Lydiate and Jamie Roberts moving overseas. He believes that 13 of Wales' starting XV could soon be out of the country.

"It's very important we keep people like Leigh (Halfpenny) in Wales," the hooker told the South Wales Evening Post.

"If something is not sorted we are going to lose 13 out of our starting XV.

"We really, really need to keep people in Wales, to keep building this team - there are some amazing things we could do."

Hibbard added that aspirations of winning the 2015 Rugby World Cup will be seriously impacted if the majority of the team is based in the Top 14 competition at that point.

"If you look at the boys with French clubs, they are not here for certain days," he said.

"To build for a World Cup is quite hard when you have that kind of situation.

"The boys want to stay in Wales, because while it always looks greener on the other side it never is. Let's just hope something can be sorted out."